Alta; northern lights, sleigh rides and awe inspiring days

 

It had been an interesting night, but by the early hours we had dived back into the fjords and I think we all slept well for those hours. Breakfast came a little later for most of us as we luxuriated in the stillness of the beds and the calm nature of the bathroom floors. If you have ever attempted to shower when the floor under you tended to move about with no regularity, then that was what it had been like. There were grab rails in there which i held with one hand and showered with the other....putting soap on the sponge was a precarious activity!

Actually, try lifting one leg off the ground to put on trousers! At one point I almost left the bathroom sideways as I crashed against the door. I'm so glad I'd made sure it was fully secure.

So the day began and for the first day I had two trips out, the first to the site of the sinking of the Tirpitz warship and associated museum and later in the evening, the Northern Lights hunt with a company specifically brought in to take us to the most likely of spots.

So many trips were due to go out today;

• two dog sledding trips
• overnight stay at the Ice hotel 
• ice sculpting and the igloo hotel bar 
• two reindeer sledding trips
• mine, the Tirpitz trip, two of those
• two Alta Light cathedral trips
• four trips to Sorrisniva hotel
• overnight husky experience
• four trips to hunt for the Northern lights

In my mind a logistical task and a half but it meant I would go out in the morning, come back in time for a very late lunch and then, when most people were off the ship, get myself down onto deck 8 and get my washing done in the free launderette. Yes, that's right, free, and that includes the soap!!  

After a while we all passed on the best settings for this, that and the other and which setting seemed to work best in the driers. 

What was really nice was this one was on deck 8 and the library was on deck 9 so a quick wander along and up and I could sit down with a coffee knowing the machine is taking the strain. To be honest I used the machines twice and this meant when I came home I had very little washing and most of what I brought back went straight into the drawers; so much easier.

Coffee in the library, then wander off to wherever, made life so pleasant

and it was free, what more could I ask for?